


These Faces Are Not Set In Stone

by BlooBlu



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety Disorder, Blood and Injury, Heavy Angst, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Kinda goreyish desc. In ch8, Like a lot of swearing probably, M/M, Murder, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Suicide Attempt, Swearing, Thomas just wants Virgil to be careful, Thomas says Fuck, Unrequited Crush, Virgil and Logan are dorks, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-11-28 19:34:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 11,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20971895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlooBlu/pseuds/BlooBlu
Summary: Written based on the prompt"There is a statue of a beautiful person in the middle of a large city, and the rumor surrounding the statue is that when they touch hands with their soulmate, they will become human. Naturally, it becomes a perfect photo and video opportunity to pose while holding its hand. One cute selfie attempt results in an empty statue podium and you just barely catching a very confused person in your arms."In other words, Virgil thinks that the world has abandoned him since he was born, and one night gets angsty in an old park in the middle of the night. He tries something he told himself was stupid, absolutely ridiculous, and meets the love of his life.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is basically going to be about 3 chapters of prologue before we get to the main part, so if you're just here for Analogical stuff it'll be out soon.

Life didn't really lean in Virgil's favor, very often.  
Born with no father to speak of, and a mom that either couldn't or wouldn't take care of him. No aunts or uncles on the record, grandparents all senile or dead - so he was essentially born to be alone.  
If that wasn't enough, he had eyes that made him look like a freakshow - a bright violet that stood out anywhere. He wasn't technically born with them - Alexandria's Genesis, basically a myth among myths, it was a genetic mutation that would occur shortly after birth. 

Some of the girls that lived with him in the orphanage thought they were pretty, at least. Another kid, Thomas, said that he wishes he had "such cool eyes, mine are just lame old brown." Virgil said that he thought Thomas's eyes were cool too - like chocolate. The smile he got in return was worth all the "ooooooo"'s and giggles from the other little kids nearby.

So what if he thought his eyes were weird and gross- if someone like Thomas thought they were nice, than he guessed they were pretty cool. (No matter what the boys at school say. No matter what he hears teachers whisper to each other when they don't know he's there. No matter what Jamie-fricking-Adams says on the schoolyard.) 

So, whatever. Not a lot of things worked out for Virgil, but if meeting Thomas meant he had 1,000 years bad luck, then it was worth it. Because that meant he got to meet Patton. Patton Hart, a very loud and bright (and very very cute) boy who shared his lunch with kids that didn't have one, and brought absolutely perfect cupcakes to school on his birthday.

("Here ya go! You like strawberry flavored stuff, right? My mom said we didn't have any strawberry cupcake mix at home and I kept telling her we had to get some 'cause Tommy told me you don't like chocolate! She said no but I bought you this one from the store this morning, I know it's not as good as homemade but I think you'll like it anyways and-"

"Uh… thanks, Patton. You didn't have to go through all that trouble, though…"

He took the pink cupcake, with swirly white and pink icing on top. It had a little heart on it, which Virgil tried desperately not to think too hard about. It was near Valentines day, it was probably just the first pink one Patton saw - 

"Of course I did, silly! Birthdays are supposed to be fun and getting a cupcake you don't like isn't fun! So… I really hope you like this one!")

That was Virgil's first ever crush. He didn't feel like he'd have to explain why to anyone - basically everyone at school loved Patton, it was basically automatic once you met him. Of course, that meant there were tons of other kids Patton could choose over him, and why wouldn't he, there were so many cool guys and girls that liked Patton too, he'd never stand a chance like that -  
So he never told him. Virgil never said anything, and in 5th grade Patton was walking around holding hands with Roman Prince. Roman Prince: the overzealous, loud, super athletic and rich kid that owned basically every gaming system ever. (Virgil and most of the kids around school knew he had a brother, a twin, nonetheless, but Roman never talked about him and they didn't even attend the same school, so whatever.)  
Stupid Roman and his perfect hair that his parents let him dye bright streaks of red - loud, mean Roman that couldn't even look at Virgil straight, cause he had "purple eyes and a scary look on his face, like the Dragon Witch! You must be one of her soldiers, fiend!"

Virgil still didn't get why his eyes made him evil, when he was 99% sure that Roman's eyes turned red whenever the sun caught them just right. Red is more evil than purple, anyday. Purple is calm and sweet (and basically everything else Thomas had called them because Thomas is always right,) but red is harsh and mean and the color of blood which is gross. Roman is gross - and he'd tell this to anyone who would listen, which was just that one quiet kid with burn scars on half his face.  
Virgil didn't see why that was bad, though. He'd heard kids say really nasty things about the kid, just cause of a scar he couldn't change. Just like Virgil couldn't change his eyes. After a week or two of knowing them, the quiet kid told Virgil he could call them "Dee" but that if he ever told anyone even that much he'd be missing all his fingers and toes the same night.  
Not like Virgil enjoyed being threatened, but Dee understood him and was a really good listener, so that didn't matter very much to him. Thomas and Patton had tried to tell him not to hang out with Dee, that they didn't seem very nice and "they hiss at people, I saw them do it! I heard they even bit some kid last year."  
When Virgil had tried to ask Dee if they really had bitten anyone, they'd just grinned and said that they bit way harder than they barked. That wasn't really an answer, but Virgil supposed he'd just have to trust that Dee didn't bite their friends.  
If they even were. Friends, that is. They hung out a lot but he suspected that was more because Dee didn't have anyone else to hang out with. He was probably bothering them, just sitting there and talking all the time, because Dee was scary when it was silent but they wouldn't say anything most of the time, so Virgil had to fill the silence himself.  
Maybe Dee was a spy. Maybe Roman picked in them so it wouldn't look as suspicious when Dee sat with Virgil all the time, letting him talk and learning all his secrets so that they could go running to Roman with all of it and they could plan an attack against him- 

Okay. Okay okay okay, Virge. Deep breaths - like Elliot says. You gotta just breathe, in and out. 4 and 7 and 8 and 4 and 7 and 8 again-  
Breathe in and out and that's all you gotta be right now. Just a person who's breathing and is most likely completely safe. Except he's not, cause no one is ever really safe, anything could happen at any time, but about as safe as one could be.  
Most meteoroids that enter Earth's atmosphere disintegrate before they reach the ground, the pieces that do are like the size of baseballs most of the time. Way more people die to deer than sharks every year and he didn't even live near the woods or the ocean. Like 99% percent of children reported missing come back alive, and kidnappings by strangers are super duper rare, most are done by family members and Virgil doesn't have any of those.  
He's fine, Dee is probably silent for food reasons. Like, maybe part of their throat was burned up in the fire that burned their face - and that's why they hiss! Cause they can't make other sounds a lot! He'd ask, but then again that would probably be super rude and make Dee hate him. Better not to know some things, then.

Virgil was 13 when he first heard the myth. He didn't really go outside a lot and he wasn't super interested in history. So when his teacher announced they'd be going on a field trip next week to go to the Lover's Memorial Park to learn about some local history hands-on, Virgil wasn't super excited. He didn't understand why over half the kids were giggling and swooning, and the other half were making weird retching noises, pretending to throw up. Sure, Lover's Memorial Park was a lame name, but it was probably just named for some stupid Romeo and Juliet story that happened before the town was founded, or something just as stupid. 

He was half-right, anyway. The park was named after a stupid love story, there was just a statue that went along with it. The statue was like most copper people statues you'd see in parks and museums.  
The man standing before them was maybe 6 feet tall, without the small podium he stood upon. He stood looking off to the side, forlornly, like watching something you love walk away, even though you probably didn't want to watch. He had one arm tucked neatly behind his back, the other hanging loosely at his side. 

Their guide began to speak:

"Now kids, what you see here is the famous statue 'Half Of A Soul.' Legend has it that this was once a real, flesh and blood man, who was so heartbroken that he froze on the spot - unable to live on without his soulmate, who died. The tale also says that, one day, his soulmate will be reborn into a new body, and when they hold hands with his petrified form, the man will come to life once more. It was, and still is, quite popular for people to come and hold his hand to take pictures - so, who here wants to try and find their true love, eh?" 

That brought a few chuckles from the teachers and parents, and most of the students. But a few bold individuals raised their hands and went up to try. The statue obviously didn't come to life, and Virgil most certainly did not try. He found himself transfixed with the statue's eyes. Incredibly detailed - they looked intelligent, Virgil decided. Behind those copper-molded glasses, was a very smart and strong-willed guy. Someone who Virgil could understand. Too disgusted with reality so they turn to books and art.

Maybe in another life, they could have been each other's soulmates. But sometimes fairy tales have to stay fairytales, and you have to get on with life.

Virgil's hands felt cold, and his whole body ached with an emptiness he had never known before today.

He decided parks weren't really his thing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where all those scary tags come in people, so be warned.

Virgil was 18, before thought about the myth again. At least, as more than a passing thought.  
He was sitting, fully clothed, in a bathtub. It was probably white at some point, but now it was a gross kind of yellow-brown.  
He took a moment to reflect on everything he'd achieved in life. Which wasn't a lot, but - y'know. He'd almost won a spelling bee, once, before he threw up on stage and locked himself in a bathroom stall for a few hours. He'd made a few cool robots in the engineering program at his highschool - a nice place to hang out after school when he didn't feel like returning to the orphanage.  
Virgil hadn't been to the orphanage in almost a year now, left the second he turned 18. They had hired students in the cafeteria at school, sometimes, and he had taken the opportunity as soon as possible - what 14 year old would pass up the chance to have some extra money in their pocket? (and free lunches, because Rosita was a lovely old woman who always thought Virgil was too skinny for his age.)  
He'd moved on to waitering at a nice restaurant a few blocks away when he turned 18, and had moved into a shared apartment a few weeks later with what he'd managed to save up. His roommate, Katie, wasn't even there most of the time, though she was on time with rent every month, which was nice.  
They got on pretty well, and every day Virgil was more and more proud of himself for having those custom eye contacts made - they turned his eyes into a perfect, unnoticeable shade of brown. Just another nobody. 

Well. He hadn't accomplished a lot in life, and that brought Virgil to think about what had brought him to this moment.  
Everything had been going well - pretty great, actually. He'd gotten a 50$ yearly bonus on his paycheck, Thomas came down to visit for Christmas, and they'd had a great time.  
Things hadn't been the same with Thomas off at college, of course - (earning a degree in chemical engineering, of all things, not like Virgil didn't think he could do it, it just didn't seem like Thomas's sort of thing.) But they still had frequent video chats and met up for drinks every weekend or so. They were like brothers with no mothers - Thomas had slugged him in the arm for that joke.  
So things were great. Virgil felt great. Until he just… didn't. It happened pretty much over night, in his opinion.  
One day he was fine, just got off work and took a shower, before settling in for a night of tumblr browsing. And then suddenly - it felt like the weight of the world was on him. Like nothing ever could or would be okay again. His whole life was a lie, and he was going to live the rest of his life a failure.  
This feeling was present most of the time, of course, but always in the background. Just a general thought that he could get over. But over the next few days it became unbearable, stronger than it had ever been. 

So here he was. Bleeding out in a bathtub, crying silently and waiting for everything to just stop.

Thomas would be fine - he had other friends.  
Katie would be fine - she was moving in with her sister come the end of the lease, next month.  
The whole world would be fine - it'd just keep spinning, not even slowing down by an inch for him.

That's when the story came back to him. That old copper statue in the love-ey whatever park. The one with those shiny, intelligent eyes. The man who'd be alone for the rest of eternity, until someone knocked the statue down or sold it when the park was replaced with apartments or something. 

The world screamed - and Virgil faded into darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

Well, the world didn't actually scream. That was Katie stopping by to grab some extra clothes and her toothbrush to stay the night with her boyfriend.  
She'd sent Garret to go get her overnight bag in her room, and she had walked into the unlocked bathroom only to find- well. Him, sitting in a pool of his own blood in their bathtub. 

Katie had called an ambulance, while Garret, who was actually training to be a nurse, had done his best to wrap up Virgil's arms and make him comfortable. They'd tried to make him eat, something about fatty and sugary foods being good for blood loss - 

All of it just kind of faded away, until Virgil found himself waking up in a hospital bed, cold and extremely tired, despite having just woken up. There was someone in the room with him.  
They looked kind of like a policeman, but more.. basic.  
When Virgil asked what happened, why they were here with him, they said that he had tried to kill himself and would be on suicide watch until they had deemed him "stable."  
Virgil laughed, in his head. Stable. When was the last time someone could have called him stable? Sure, he'd had a decent life, had acted normally enough - but he wasn't normal, wouldn't ever be 'stable.' 

That was when he felt, with a sudden sense of horror, that he wasn't wearing his contacts. He knew he'd been wearing them in the tub - didn't want Katie to see him and find out he'd been lying to her all this time-  
But now they were gone, he could feel their absence. Which meant they had been removed, and the doctors who treated him knew- who else saw? The guard must have, they weren't all that far away-  
Virgil shut his eyes. 

He was cold, and without his dignity, but he'd at least keep his eyes. No one could have his eyes but Thomas - no one but his brother. 

Virgil also suddenly realized he didn't actually have a blanket, nothing on him but some stiff, cheap hospital clothes. He wanted to ask for a blanket, but he figured that if they hadn't given him one in the first place, there was probably a reason for it. So he just wrapped his arms around himself and turned away from the door, and the guard. The bandages on his arms were too tight, scratchy, and honestly just overall uncomfortable. He wondered when he'd get to take them off.  
Virgil heard the guard get up and move to the other side of the bed he was lying on. 

"I need to be able to see your hands, kid. You have no idea what I've seen people who are desperate enough try to do." 

Fair enough. Virgil didn't sit up, but he rolled onto his back and placed his hands on his chest. Still with his eyes closed. If the guard somehow hadn't seen he wasn't going to let them now.

"When can I leave?" He asked. 

"Like I said. When the doctors deem you stable enough to."

"...." 

A sigh. "Maybe a few weeks. I dunno, kid. It all depends on how quickly you realize that what you did was real stupid, and let us help you."

"I… I do know. That it was stupid. There just… wasn't anything else I could do. Everything will keep goin' on without me, anyway." 

And they didn't talk again. Not like Virgil blamed them, they'd only just met so there was no reason for them to care about him. No reason to argue that he should be alive, because as far as they knew he shouldn't.  
But… whatever. Virgil would walk a mile balancing an egg on his head to get out of this damn hospital, if he had to pretend like he thought everyone cared, then he could do that. 

He'd been doing that for years already.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan is here, everyone! Just finished this chapter and am posting it right away, so feel free to kick my ass for any typos or continuity errors!

So, being on suicide watch wasn't great. You weren't allowed to use anything sharper than a spoon without someone breathing down your neck, hair clips and pencils and anything with an end pointer than a sunny circle were banned - no phones or computers without close supervision - you get the idea.  
It was a sucky 3 weeks before they deemed him fit to be off of meds and allowed him to use the bathroom privately - and another 2 before they let him leave the psychiatric ward. 

Life would be pretty much the same now, anyways- except that he had very little money and now not even a garbage apartment to live in because the lease on his had ended 3 weeks ago, and Katie was long gone. 

Of course, his boss had heard what had happened. Fortunately, the old man that ran the restaurant was very sympathetic - Virgil was aloud to come back to work, albeit with less hours. "You need to take care of yourself - no more late shifts, okay son?"  
So, with what cash he had left, Virgil looked for the cheapest possible hotel rooms in the area and booked one for the next week. They even offered some iffy discounts if you booked more than 3 days at once, so that was nice. No way was he ever leaving the doors unlocked, though.  
He found himself grateful that he hadn't worn his only hoodie when he… well he was just glad to have it. Because besides that and his work uniform, he didn't actually have any long sleeve shirts. That would be one more thing in an already impossible list of things he needed to do, now. 

He actually had more free time than he thought he would, now. Most of it he spent online, looking for odd jobs he could do electronically or within a few miles. Lotta' people who wanted help with fixing broken computers or TVs. Which, he could still do for the most part. (Thank you, Mr. Wilburr, for insisting all the engineering kids take that summer job fixing AC units for a few hours a week - that gave him actual work experience to put on his profile.) 

But there was still too much… empty space in his life now. Late nights where he'd usually just pick up an extra shift or spend talking to Thomas were over. Ever since his hospitalization, Virgil hadn't talked to Thomas once. He knew that it was a jerk move, but he couldn't just tell Thomas he'd been on sucide watch for over a month, not allowed to make calls outside of blood relations. What would he think? Virgil had failed at life so bad, that he even failed to die.  
And now he needed to buy new contacts, which means he'd have to have them fitted, and he didn't have the money for that right now. He was using cheap ones from a costume store right now, and they dried his eyes out really bad. 

This is just a really long way of saying that Virgil was bored. You can only watch so many mothman analysis videos and office bloopers each night, y'know? So Virgil started taking walks. When he wasn't working or too afraid to leave his motel room because of noises outside, he walked.  
And it was on one of these walks that he found himself in a vaguely familiar park. Lover's Memorial Park. Home to the local tourist attraction that founded it's own FaceBook page and dozens of instagram stories about it every day. Teens would sit and wax poetic about the story to their boyfriend or girlfriend on dates. Young finances would proclaim their love to be as great as the frozen man's love for his missing soulmate. Old couples would come sit by the statue on their anniversary.  
Virgil suddenly couldn't stop thinking about the statue. Half Of A Soul - a stupid name but a fitting one anyway. He looked so lonely. Like the loss of his love had been equitable to the loss of an arm or a leg. Like his love had been his best friend, too.  
The man's hand hung by his side, and all at once Virgil felt both anxious and incredibly lonely. It was stupid. So, very stupid. He could walk over and take the man's hand, and walk away with the germs of a billion people on his hand, disappointed and even more alone. Or, maybe, if magic was real, and love could be considered powerful in any way, Virgil could take the man's hand and walk away with a soulmate.  
Maybe the myth was backwards. Maybe, if he took the man's hand, he too would become a statue. They could stand, together, in the middle of this park for the rest of eternity - never alone again.  
Really, all he had to lose was a little dignity. Not like anyone was watching, anyways. It was the middle of the night.

Taking a deep breath, Virgil strode over to stand at the statue's side. His hands shook and his legs felt wobbly. 

He took the man's hand into his own, and laid his head on his coppery shoulder. He felt a little ridiculous, after a moment.

But then the cool, worn metal suddenly felt warm and soft in his hand. The once hard and uncomfortable spot where he'd rested his head turned into a cold, but silky-soft material.  
Virgil heard a deep intake of breath from beside him - not like when you hold your breath for a long time and have to finally breathe in again, but more like someone had taken a long pause while breathing. And now it had resumed, as normal. 

"...Varion?" A surprised, but gentle voice spoke. 

Virgil turned to face the no-longer-statue beside him. He was beautiful, really. A strong, sharp jawline. Chocolate brown hair that was combed back, but still looked pretty and was probably like silk when you run your fingers through it - and eyes that, while now an electric blue instead of coppery brown, were just as intelligent and steady as before.

"Uhhhhhh pretty close, I guess… name's Virgil... what's yours, dude?" 

The man looked down at their intertwined hands, but made no move to stop it. 

"I am Logan. A pleasure to meet you, Virgil… I believe that, while you are not Varion, you are still…"  
A pause. Virgil was a little nervous, but also 85% sure this was a hallucination or dream, and Logan looked pretty shy, too.  
"My soulmate. Reborn, I presume. What-" he looked around them, for a second, taking in the trees and park benches.  
"What year is it, Virgil? It may seem an odd question but just a moment ago this was a forest, as I recall. It now appears to be a fully renovated piece of public property."  
"2019. Not to judge by appearances or anything, but by the way you're dressed and they way you talk, I think you've been standing here for quite a while."  
"You would… be correct in that assumption. The last thing I remember, was mourning the death of my… fiance in the woods near my hometown. In 1843."  
"You're fiance was Varion, right? They guy you mistook me for."  
"... yes. He was. You two appear nearly identical, save for a few small details. Varion did not wear makeup in public, for example. I'm assuming certain prejudices against men's apparel have… been resolved, now?"  
Virgil laughed, a little. Yeah, Logan probably wouldn't have seen any guys wearing eyeshadow or foundation out in public, huh?  
"Well, not completely. Some people still suck. But - I can get you caught up, if you want? Maybe we should go sit down somewhere, where we won't get caught if someone comes walking by. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be blamed for stealing the most famous statue in town."  
"Statue? Very well - If we are going to get me 'caught up' on current events, a more comfortable setting would be ideal. A lot can happen in 176 years, afterall." 

Virgil smiled at him. Yeah, if this was a dream - he was going to enjoy it much as he could, before the sun came up.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning cause this chapter probably sucks but I was in a mushy mood and wanted to write stupid coffee shop bois. Should I start doing Logan's pov? Probably not but we'll see.
> 
> (Some vauge editing has been done here and over a few other chapters since they were posted, just to let yall know)

So, maybe Virgil was a little too embarrassed to bring Logan to his actual living space right now, but that doesn't really matter - right? He would probably get another shared apartment within the month anyways.  
For now, they could sit and talk in a local cafe. He really enjoyed this place because they had basically their own library upstairs. You couldn't take any food or drink besides water up there, but it was a nice place to sit and chill with a good book - something told him Logan would appreciate that.  
It almost didn't surprise him when Logan took one look at the incredibly long and complicated menu, and just asked for one black coffee, three sugars, please. Virgil couldn't quite match Logan's badassery there, but he chose a vanilla hazelnut frappe and some thumbprint cookies for the two of them.  
(Logan insisted he would pay Virgil back, as soon as he had currency from the current time - but Virgil couldn't give less fucks about that. Logan was the most handsome not-statue Virgil had ever met, and was worth more money than the world had to offer, let alone $8.50 for drinks and cookies.)  
Despite insisting that there was no need to buy anything for him, especially sweets, Logan's face when he tried the 'LoganBerry Crofters thumbprint cookies' was enough to give Virgil heart palpitations. (Sue him, there were only 3 flavors to choose from and he thought that it would be funny, and Logan had smirked just a tiny bit when he heard the name, too.)  
It was all a bit surreal, honestly. Sitting in a cafe at 2am, with a guy that you a) just met and b) is supposed to be your soulmate.  
Where the hell did they go from here? Logan probably wouldn't want to live with him in some shitty motel for the next few weeks - destiny or not. But… the guy didn't have anywhere else to go, so Virgil would offer whatever he could until they figured something out. People don't turn into statues with their legal documents on them, do they? Does Logan even still exist on public records? Oh god what if he ever needed to go to the hospital, how would they explain that?!??  
'Hi, yes, excuse me, my friend here has broken his leg what do I do? No he's not up to date on his vaccinations, he's from the 19th century.'  
…as Thomas would say "unrealistic, but ok." 

"Virgil? Are you listening?"

"What? Sorry, what did you say-"

"I was saying that we should formulate a plan as to how we should… proceed."

"Proceed with what?"

"While I hate to sound vauge... everything, really. You say that, if the local stories are true, then we are soulmates. I… am certain that, if you are truly Varion… reborn… I believe we could at least get along. And seeing as everyone I knew and everything I owned is dead and gone twice over, I would like to… implore your help, for a time. If that is acceptable."

"Well uh… I'm in kind of a shitty place right now too, but - I mean I'm not just gonna dump you out on the street or anything. You can… stay with me if you want but… like it's not great, it's all temporary right now… I'm uh- I'm still tryna' rebuild right now, basically."

Logan looked a little confused, at certain things Virgil said - fuck, was 'gonna' even a thing like more than 20 years ago? But he noticeably relaxed when Virgil had finished speaking, nonetheless.

"Yes, well, any living arrangements would be better than my current status, or should I say lack thereof. Might I ask - what exactly are you 'rebuilding' from?"

If you asked Virgil why he did what he did next, he'd never be able to tell you. Maybe it was because they were supposed to be soulmates, but he found that not a single bone in his body distrusted Logan in the slightest.  
He rolled up one of his hoodie sleeves, just enough to show barely 2 inches of one of the twin scars on his arms.  
"I uh, I was stuck- stuck in the hospital… for a while and - my lease ended for my apartment, I'm.. I'm trying to, to save up for another place right now. Livin' in a motel…"  
He might trust Logan, for really no good reason at all as they had just met hours ago, but that didn't make saying these things… any easier. 

That puzzled look, again. It lasted a little longer this time, Logan slowly reaching for Virgil's arm, asking without asking. Virgil nodded, and Logan gently held his wrist and pulled it closer, for examination. A pause, lasting just a few seconds too long, and suddenly Logan looked very sad. In a way that made Virgil think back to that day in 8th grade. The field trip where he saw a broken man, frozen in copper. Mourning the loss of his beloved, unable to join them, unable to leave this world and reconnect with his love in the next.  
But he didn't say anything about it. Not indicating if he knew the true implications or fully understood why it might have happened. He just nodded, and carefully set Virgil's arm back where it had lain on the table. Holding on just for a second, before pulling back.  
"It must have been an exhausting experience. I personally find hospitals suffocating and most often unnecessary for those who keep fit and are not lacking in basic mental function." A cough and… perhaps Logan looked a tiny bit guilty. "Well, not to say that you are, uh- not either of those things, this might have just been an unfortunate turn of events. Should we be going, then?"

Virgil smiled. Yeah, maybe Logan wouldn't stay for too long, especially after they got him a job or something - but hey, a soulmate for a few weeks is better than no soulmate ever, right? (That's probably not the saying, but sayings are stupid anyways.)  
"Yeah, Lo. Let's uh- go home."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, I know nothing about Michigan in the 1840's, but I know what general tech and slang did not exist yet - that's something.  
Fun fact, kiddos! The word "hassle" was 1st used in 1945 - roughly 100 years after Logan "died" so don't @ me for him not knowing the word :)

Virgil had led Logan into his motel room, and told him to wait there while he went to upgrade to a room with two beds. Mostly because the one he was currently renting was a twin and would not, (no matter how much he kind of wished it could) fit the two of them.  
About half an hour later they had a room on the floor just below where Virgil had been previously staying, with all of his stuff moved fairly easily.  
Now, Virgil may not know a whole lot about the 19th century, or what kind of living accommodations they had, but he had assumed that his current living situation would be pretty pathetic in any time period past medieval. He was… pleasantly surprised when Logan didn't make any remarks, even backhanded ones. And perhaps a little alarmed when Logan began to poke and prod at the AC by the window.  
"Virgil? I understand that it is… a remarkably unpleasant hour to be awake already, and you have put up with many of my queries thus far, but could you tell me about this…" he squinted at something for a minute- "'BlueRidge BP09 refrigerant' machine in our room? It is making some rather alarming sounds and appears to be emitting heat."  
Virgil laughed - stifled heavily behind his hand but hard to control. Maybe it was because he was so tired, or he really was just hallucinating, but he couldn't help it.  
"That- that's a uh, air conditioning unit, Lo. Most buildings have them inside to, like, control the temperature. It's making warm air right now by default because this is Troy in the middle of February."  
"Ah. So it can be set to emit air at a desired temperature? Fascinating - how does one operate it? You say it is in most buildings - I can't imagine it's very difficult, but I have a… ah, lack of experience in this field. Well, quite advanced knowledge I would think for the 19th century, I am - was - quite the researcher and was always fascinated with ne pieces of technology, but my knowledge would be grossly outdated, of course, for the 21st-"  
"Logan, you're rambling. It's fine, but - here, I'll just show you."  
He walked to stand by Logan's side, opening a small panel on the top the AC unit.  
"Here, you see the blue down arrow? You push that once, to make the air temperature go down by about 1 degree fahrenheit, and the red up arrow does the opposite. The little grey ones underneath it adjust the intensity of the air. Like, increasing the force of the air coming out."  
"Amazing. Are there more ah-" Logan paused himself for a moment, considering something, before deciding to go on. Virgil supposed he might have several questions he wanted to ask at once, but his mouth could only project one at a time.  
"Are there more devices of such… complexity, in the room that you might be willing to- explain, for me?"

Virgil was going to ascend to heaven right here, right now. Logan had no right to look so perfectly adorable, asking questions left and right. It was amazing how much he wanted to know about the world around him - especially things Virgil thought he probably wouldn't even think of, if he was suddenly 200 years in the future. 

So maybe they didn't sleep all night, and Virgil had a shift that day at 10. And maybe they stopped by the same cafe for breakfast in the morning, Logan wearing an outfit borrowed from Virgil.  
"Logan, I know you don't like it, but you can't wear a *frock coat* and a *bowtie* in everyday circumstances, nowadays. Maybe as a costume or like, to be super extra, but not for coffee or the park-"  
"I was wearing this just last night when we went for coffee, and no one commented on my appearance."  
"It was 3 am, Logan. We could have shown up in our underwear and t-shirts and no one would have cared."  
Logan had looked rather affronted at this, asking if Virgil had done this before, or seen anyone else do it. Was this a regular occurrence at establishments during odd hours?  
"Nah, but I once saw a chic with nothing but a huge shirt on. No pants or anything."  
That lead to a 20 minute conversation of the word 'chic' and some more general slang, all of which Logan dutifully wrote in a small notebook that was in one of his inner coat pockets. Eventually, though, Virgil got him to settle on some jeans and a nice shirt that said "I'm not saying it was aliens… but it was aliens."

After that, Virgil brought him back to their room, told Logan to help himself to what was in the minifridge (and how to order room service with 30$ on the nightstand, maybe he's allergic to something in hot pockets who knows) and, when Virgil remembered that he would be gone for 8 hours, showed Logan his small bag of books and pointed outside to where he could get newspapers for free in the motel office. Logan insisted this was all unnecessary, he was a grown man who could be left to his own devices for a few hours without all this - a brief pause to look in his notebook- 'hassle' but Virgil was already halfway out the door, saying to just call using the phone in the corner if there was an emergency.  
(Though, even after having explained how the phone worked last night, Virgil wasn't 100% sure Logan would really be able to use it without some practice first.)

Whatever! Time to stop thinking and get to work- (stop thinking about Logan and his stupid, pretty face- or the way he adjusts his glasses or bowtie when he needs something to do with his hands, or that startstruck look in his eyes when Virgil explained the TV to him.) Right. Right, it was time to work. The sooner this was over the sooner he could go back to his not-quite-home, with his magic not-quite-boyfriend.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this chapter and the next one will be from Thomas and Logan's povs, respectively. They'll both be a little earlier in as far as the timeline goes. I'll try to make it a little more solid, but basically 
> 
> Second chapter takes place in mid-late January, and Virgil left the hospital in mid February, and then met Logan.  
This chapter takes place with Thomas about a week after Virgil was put on suicide watch.  
Logan's pov will start after they checked into the motel, but a little before the events of this chapter.,

Thomas was… starting to get worried. If had been a little over a week since he'd heard from Virgil, and that wasn't normal. Even when he had needed space, he'd always told Thomas beforehand hand - but this was just… total radio silence.  
Initially, thomas had figured that maybe his brother in arms was just having a bad day or needed some time to himself, and that was fine! He could go watch movies with Joan and Patton.  
But then he hadn't heard anything from Virgil over the next 3 days. And then 5. And then 9. And that was when it started to bother him. Maybe he'd said something to upset Virgil? Or maybe Virge had lost/broken his phone… but then he still would have told him, somehow! Calling from a payphone or from work or something, surely! Maybe he was hurt- oh God what if Virgil had fell and hit his head in his apartment and no one was there to help him- no, wait- Katie didn't come home for very long periods of time but V had said she was there at least once or twice a day.  
Oh, Katie!! Thomas could just text Katie - he was sure he had her number on a piece of paper - somewhere…  
Who was he kidding, this was ridiculous! He shouldn't have to call his best bro's roommate just to check on him- he and Virge were adults, now, who could (mostly) take care of themselves. If Virgil didn't want to talk right now, then Thomas would respect that… for now. 

Before he knew it, it had been almost a month since he'd heard from Virgil at all. He had eventually found Katie's number in an old notebook, but she didn't pick up when he called. He didn't know if that was even her number, after all this time.  
He really wanted to go and see Virgil - but taking the 4 hour trip wasn't something he could just do whenever - he had to study, and attend classes, and work, no matter how much it pained him to have to put Virgil's well being aside for now… he couldn't drop out. Not after all he'd done so far, not with Virge and Joan and Patton all cheering him on.  
(Even though every time he looked at his uploads on vine, with more views everyday, followers slowly building up on his Instagram - the old video set and microphone in his storage, it all begged for his attention. Even though, day after day, he started to think maybe chemical engineering wasn't his thing, afterall- maybe he could give acting one more try...)  
He shook his head. No! He'd just find time during fall break, next week. He'd have 8 whole days to go down and see Virgil. He'd bring some strawberry candies, and vanilla ice cream, and be ready to help Virgil through whatever was happening, or apologize for whatever he'd done wrong the last time they talked - it would all be fine! Thomas would have his brother back in no time, surely!

Maybe he should have come sooner. Why - why was Virgil's apparent listed as "for lease"? He thought Virgil had planned to renew his lease, after- oh! Oh!! Maybe this was why Virgil hadn't been calling him!!! He probably didn't have the money to renew the lease and had to find a new place, and stupid, stupid little bro was trying to avoid Thomas so he wouldn't have to say anything about it - Virgil never liked asking for help, jeez-  
Well then, he'd just text Virgil and tell him that the jig was up! Thomas was going to help him in any way he could, like big brothers are supposed to do!  
He wasn't sure where V might be staying now, but he was pretty sure that he still worked at that fancy Italian place - the one run by that nice old man that always wore the same yellow bowtie.

Walking inside, Thomas didn't actually see Virgil anywhere - but it was like, 9am anyways, Virge never took shifts that early. (So maybe he'd started driving super early to get there that morning - he was worried, dangit.)

"Hello, are you waiting for someone or would you like to be seated now?"

"Uh actually - I'm here to see my brother? I'm pretty sure he still works here - his name is Virgil."

"I'm sorry sir, but I can't actually give you that kind of information - company policy." 

Oh. Right, that probably sounded creepy and weird. Thomas had heard stories about guys coming in asking about female workers, pretending to be family or a friend, usually just a creepy ex or stalker. 

"Don't worry about it - then uh, I guess I'll be going then… I'm sorry I'm not like a stalker or something I promise I just haven't heard from him in a few weeks and like - I'm kinda worried. Uhm, if he does work here still, though - tell him his big brother - Thomas -stopped by?"

The hostess did frown a little, halfway through his goodbye, but in the end just nodded a little and waved him goodbye. Once he was outside, he saw her turn around and go further inside - probably to tell the manager some creepy dude was asking about an employee- gosh that was so embarrassing-  
Well, Thomas didn't really know what to do, now. What could he do? He had no idea where Virgil was living now, or if he even still had the same job. Virge never mentioned any friends outside of Katie and her boyfriend, and- well. There was only one other place Thomas had ever seen Virgil at, and that was the coffee shop where they went for lunch any time Thomas came to visit. 

…

That was a dead end as well - no sign of Virgil, and Thomas was at a dead end. Well… he was way too tired to drive home just now. It was 10:30 and he'd spent a little while just driving around town, hoping to maybe spot V on the street somewhere by chance.  
He didn't want to, but he would probably have to check in somewhere for a few hours to rest, before… well. He wasn't sure he wanted to make the drive home, but there wasn't anything else he could do, right? 

As he pulled into the motel lot, he tried not to think about how he was able to book a room online for 15$ for the day - please no bugs, please no bugs, please no bugs.  
He took a moment to breathe deeply a few times before leaving his car. And when he walked into the front office - he couldn't believe it-! That was Virgil's shirt! It was one he'd made him, custom, a few years ago- (it was bright blue, and on the back it said "say human!" With an image of two cheese pieces posing for a photo in the front.)  
"Virgil! Hey, Virgil-"  
Okay. The man who turned around was NOT Virge. He was holding a newspaper in one hand, browsing through a few magazines on a small table. He had brown glasses and dark brown hair. Just as pale as Virgil though. (Then again, it's friggin Michigan, most people are pale as heck.)  
"Oh. Uh, sorry- I thought you were someone else-"  
"Interesting. It did occur to me that Virgil and I had a similar enough appearance to mistaken for one another- interesting."  
"No, it's just 'cause you're wearing his shirt and both have dark hair- wait you know Virgil?! And wait, why do you even HAVE his shirt in the first place-" oh. Oh. OH GOODNESS GRACIOUS - DID VIRGIL MOVE OUT OF HIS APARTMENT FOR A BOYFRIEND?!!? AND DIDN'T TELL HIM?!??!  
"I am Logan, and I do know Virgil, of course, he is my… friend. I am borrowing some of his apparel until I can obtain clothes that don't-" the man pulled a small notebook from his pocket, and flipped through a few pages for a moment, "-make me look like a 'cosplay nerd'. Could I ask how you know Virgil, as well?"  
"Well hello Logan, I'm Virgil's brother- name's Thomas - I'm looking for him actually, could you tell me where he is?"  
The man - Logan - looked at him a little oddly for a moment, and muttered something to himself - "brother? Varion didn't…" before adjusting his glasses with one hand and nodding.  
"I believe Virgil left for work not very long ago - though I'm afraid I don't know where that is."  
"Really?! I was just there, I swear to god- okay, thanks Logan, I'll uh- see you later, I guess!"

And they would - see each other, that is. Just not under as amiable circumstances next time.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get some of Logan's backstory! How he got here and who this mysterious Varion is (though tbh, I'm not going to go into a whole lot of detail here because he was essentially Virgil but in 1840. Wore a lot of dark stuff, and makeup in private, y'know. Ye olde gay dude stuff.)

Everything felt… gray. Gray, and tasteless, and somehow both painful and numb at the same time.  
The only thing Logan could process at all in his mind was that Varion was gone. Dead. Killed by the people he had once called friends and even family. The townspeople had known that he and Varion weren't exactly just friends, and maybe that meant that sometimes their food was a little extra pricey, or that sometimes it took a while for one of them to find work, but that was fine. They could live sparingly, as long as they had each other. Maybe they never really visited their families for Christmas, and they fit a few dirty looks from passing mothers and school children. They could be alone together.  
They could make it work. As long as they were together. 

But then, Logan had slipped. He'd worn his ring out in town to go buy groceries - one poor young lady, she didn't know any better, asked if the bag of fruity sweets were for his 'lucky lady.' He'd just finished a very exhausting all nighter, and so perhaps was not in his right mind - as he just snorted and spoke a most damning sentence.  
"I think Varion would quite protest being called a lady, but he has the devil's luck, anyhow."

Now, he might've passed this off- saying his 'wife's' name was Varion, or that he was making a passing joke at his flatmate- but he was too flustered with himself when the girl next spoke, that he simply dropped a pile of coins on the counter and fled.

Small towns are prone to gossip, afterall, and Troy was no different. 

The more outspoken and "righteous" citizens took it into themselves to drive out this 'evil's tainting their home, now that true evidence had landed at their feet. 

Logan had run into the forest with Varion, when the pounding at their door came a few days later. It was a late hour, though, and neither of them had been quite wise enough to consider keeping their boots on just a little later into the evenings. Varion, in rather flimsy slippers, tripped.  
Logan turned, and felt sick, just as his love shouted for him to run- and took his last breath in a scream, then a muted gurgle, and then nothing. 

When he collapsed, it was in a fairly field full of tall grass. He had no idea how long he lay there, before he decided it was time to get up. Not for any particular reason. The love of his life was gone and Logan felt quite sure that there was no reason for him to continue in his life.  
And so he would not. Life for Logan Powell would halt, standing still in this very spot, for the next 176 years.  
People would come and go, sure. They would gawk and gape at the statue that was placed in the middle of what was really just an ordinary field. This prompted a little digging, sure. Maybe some treasure had been buried nearby and this was a marker? No. Perhaps if the right lady kissed the statue he would come to life and be her prince? No, that just resulted in a rather large spread of the flu over several weeks.  
Alright then, some loon just made this immepciply life like statue, and dragged it out to a middle-of-nowhere field for shits and giggles.  
Eventually, they gave the statue his own podium. And then a plaque, with a name some guy's wife thought would be cute. And then someone built their house near it- the missus was havin' a baby and this was a nice empty field to wake up to in the morning - have some cows and pigs roaming around, make it a real farm. Now what's this silly old statue doing here? Guess we could sell it for a pretty penny to that town next over - got a name an' everything!  
That statue became the centerpiece for a newly founded park. Place got renamed for it, actually. Then some school girls wanted a portrait of themselves painted by it - some holding its hands and whatnot. It became popular - get painted with the statute, get a photo with the statue, take selfies with it, find your soulmate!

Logan sat through all this, not really feeling or processing it - indeed, he would recall nothing of his time as a statue, save for that a long time had passed.  
But when a familiar soul held his hand - suddenly, for the first time since Varion had passed - Logan lived.  
Logan breathed in again and he lived - only to see that his surroundings had drastically changed and that - Varion was here. Varion was alive again! Except… something within him said otherwise. No - he wasn't sure how he knew it - but… this was not his Varion. Perhaps, in time, things could be similar to how Logan remembered them, but never quite the same.  
This was his soulmate, but this was not Varion.  
Didn't mean he couldn't pretend, for a few seconds. Maybe they even had the same name? 

"Uhhhhhh pretty close, I guess… name's Virgil... what's your name, dude?"

Well. Not all wishes come true, he supposed. In fact the vast majority of them did not.

"I am Logan. A pleasure to meet you, Virgil… I believe that, while you are not Varion, you are still…"  
He hesitated for a moment. How would… Virgil… react? Did he already know? Nothing better than a straightforward explanation, really. Best not to keep secrets if this is truly happening, and not a fantasy conjured by his own delirious mind, still broken and exhausted in that old field, just years from the same woods that had claimed his beloved.  
"-my soulmate. Reborn, I presume. What-  
what year is it, Virgil? It may seem an odd question but just a moment ago this was a forest, as I recall. It now appears to be a fully renovated piece of public property."

"2019. Not to judge by appearances or anything, but by the way you're dressed and they way you talk, I think you've been standing here for quite a while."

"You would… be correct in that assumption. The last thing I remember, was mourning the death of my… fiance in the woods near my hometown. In 1843." That would mean he had been standing in place for… the better part of two centuries. 176 years… he would say it impossible were it not happening to him already.

No better time to live than in the present, then, is there? There's simply no telling what new technological and cultural advancements could happen in such an amount of time - things he could not even imagine, surely. 

And he could discover it all, with Virgil by his side. Truly, a marvelous opportunity.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I wrote this chapter from Thomas's pov mostly because it made more sense in my head, but if yall wanna see Virgil's feelings on what's going on let me know!

Even though Thomas was still incredibly tired, he wanted to see Virgil ASAP. Now, with this guy, Logan- showing up wearing Virgil's clothes?? These were the deets that you were not ever supposed to keep from your siblings!! Are you kidding? Did Virgil blank him over guy troubles? Were they eloping secretly in a *garbage motel*?!?!?  
Fortunately, the same woman was not at the hostess table this time. (God, Thomas did not have to deal with that all over again.)   
"Hello, are you waiting for someone? Or could I sit you now, hon?"   
"Yes, please - uhm, a small table please." He wouldn't make the same mistake this time - he could just order coffee or something to wait and wave Virgil over when he saw him. 

"Alright - here's your menu, what would you like to drink?" 

"Coffee, please. With hazelnut creamer."

"Of course, I'll have someone bring it in just a moment for you."

The place was technically an Italian restaurant, and they specialized in dinners, but that didn't get enough revenue, so they'd decided to start serving breakfast and lunch as well. And they had really good coffee.  
It wasn't more than a minute or two before he saw Virgil, walking out with a small tray in each arm. He waited until V had set them both down at a table and started making his way back to the kitchen.  
"Hey, Virgil! Hey!!" Okay, so whisper shouting wasn't super subtle, but it was less disturbing that actual yelling, at least.   
For a moment Virgil looked like a deer in the headlights - but composed himself and made a "gimmie a minute" kind of gesture. Thomas nodded, and turned just in time to greet a very short waiter handing him his coffee. 

It took only a minute or two before Virgil was coming back out the same door, taking rather quick steps over to Thomas's little 2 person table. He sat down, a little hesitantly.  
"Look, I've got like 8 minutes before I need to get back to work - we can talk for a sec but a lot of this will have to wait until 4."

"Fair enough. Just tell me why you've been avoiding me, to start with. Not really mad, but you did freak me the fuck out."

Virgil paled, a bit. Thomas didn't really like to swear, just in general, but If they only had a few minutes he wanted to get his point across quickly.

"I… I was in the hospital, and for reasons I'm not comfortable sharing in a restaurant, they wouldn't let me call anyone but blood relatives for the time I was there. Just got out like this week, actually. If it makes you feel better, I tried to tell 'em you were my brother, but it's not on the record, so…"

That was… concerning. For a dozen and a half reasons, but at least now he knew it wasn't just Virgil choosing to ignore him all this time.  
Virgil was probably right not to talk about all of it out in public, considering he didn't have any visible casts or bandages - (eww, it was probably some gross surgery, wasn't it?) but that gave him just about as many answers as it did new questions.

"I'll give you an A for effort. Now, what's with the mystery boyfriend I saw wearing your shirt earlier?"

Virgil actually had the gall to look embarrassed-

"He- we aren't- Logan isn't my boyfriend! I mean… well maybe he is but we haven't really said anything yet so not really. The least complicated answer I can give you is that I basically, kind of maybe saved his life, and he's staying with me until we can figure things out… I'm also living in a motel for now, I guess. You don't need to worry by the way - I'm calling a guy later about a small house he's looking to rent out."

"Well I'm gonna worry no matter what you do cause you're the baby of this family and everything you do leads to serious injuries or some sort of crime. Second, if that guy's going to be your boyfriend I totally approve he's cute and sounds super smart." 

"Okay- well I'm going to get back to work now, you go - do whatever and meet me at the motel at like 4:30. It's room 45.   
…   
Love you, Thomas."

"Love you too, V."


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parallel of the last chapter cause I'm lazy, and I thought yall might like it

Virgil wasn't sure how he felt coming into work today. He was exhausted, sure, and not at all comfortable leaving someone 200 years out of date in his motel room all alone, but- walking into the warm, familiar atmosphere of Russo's was… kind of therapeutic, really. Felt like standing and looking around a room that you just finished cleaning.  
Sierra, one of the hostesses, said that someone had been looking for him earlier. ("He's about your height, probably, brown hair - he said he was your big brother, Thomas, I think?" ) 

Well fuck.

Thomas was looking for him? How did he even get enough time to come down and see him - oh. Right. Winter break, where the college kids would have like a week off. He spent a minute or so to reignite his habit of internally curing the universe and all things in it, and told Sierra that yeah, that's his brother all right - and he was probably stopping by to see him about 'the incident' because Virgil hadn't told him yet.   
She nodded, a little sympathetically, and turned to greet the next batch of customers coming in.  
Okay, yeah. He could deal with all this later, he had work right now. Can serve pancakes with dread over all your life decisions hanging over you, right?   
Well. He could, but it would just make things more difficult. 

So he went about waiting tables. Nothing too exciting. Mostly old people and small families at this time. It was just after he'd set down the last of his current table's order that he heard those most obvious whisper yell he'd ever heard in his life-  
"Hey!! Virgil, hey!"  
And he turned around to see… Thomas. God fuckin dammit. He'd been here like, ab hour ago - why was he back already? Well, Thomas would probably keep bugging him, even if it was the start of his shift- so he motioned for him to wait a second. Virgil could just go bs his manager about a family visit and ask someone else to take over for him while he gave his brother a menu or something.   
They said he could have a few minutes, but to hurry back.   
When he went back out, Thimas was waiting right there with a mug of (probably) coffee.

"Look, I've got like 8 minutes before I need to get back to work - we can talk for a sec but a lot of this will have to wait until 4."

"Fair enough. Just tell me why you've been avoiding me, to start with. Not really mad, but you did freak me the fuck out."

Oh. That was… fair, as far as first questions went. Didn't mean Thomas swearing didn't scare the living shit out of him - and maybe the question itself was scary, too. How could he answer this in public without making Thomas think he was just hiding more stuff from him? 

"I… I was in the hospital, and for reasons I'm not comfortable sharing in a restaurant, they wouldn't let me call anyone but blood relatives for the time I was there. Just got out like this week, actually. If it makes you feel better, I tried to tell 'em you were my brother, but it's not on the record, so…"

"I'll give you an A for effort. Now, what's with the mystery boyfriend I saw wearing your shirt earlier?"

Virgil felt heat in his face. They weren't- Logan wasn't his boyfriend!! Soulmate, maybe - but that was different. That was like, an abstract bond that just meant they were supposed to know each other and like, get along well - soulmates could be like, platonic, right? (Maybe he didn't want to be just platonic soulmates, but he wouldn't try to like, make Logan go out with him just because he was the 'reincarnate' of Logan's past partner.)

"He- we aren't- Logan isn't my boyfriend! I mean… well maybe he is but we haven't really said anything yet so not really. The least complicated answer I can give you is that I basically, kind of maybe saved his life, and he's staying with me until we can figure things out… I'm also living in a motel for now, I guess. You don't need to worry by the way - I'm calling a guy later about a small house he's looking to rent out."  
That was something he didn't need right now- Thomas trying to meddle in things because Virgil had fucked up. Then again, once he told Thomas everything that had happened (because he would have to, eventually. Either Thomas would see his scars or he would catch Virgil in a lie about why he'd been in the hospital so long.)

"Well I'm gonna worry no matter what you do cause you're the baby of this family and everything you do leads to serious injuries or some sort of crime. Second, if that guy's going to be your boyfriend I totally approve he's cute and sounds super smart."   
Totally not embarrassing at all Thomas, and he just said they weren't really boyfriends!! Whatever, he had had enough of this and just wanted to get back to work - so he could forget all this for a little while.

"Okay- well I'm going to get back to work now, you go - do whatever and meet me at the motel at like 4:30. It's room 45."

Maybe… stuff would work out. Probably not, but… yknow. Optimism.

"Love you, Thomas."

"Love you too, V."


	11. Notes!

Okay, so this isn't a new chapter, and I'm sorry about kinda teasing y'all but!   
I have reached a little bit of writer's block. I've been flying by the seat of my pants on this story for the last 6 chapters, and I wanna know -

What would you guys like to see from this story? It can be mostly anything - want me to bring in Patton and Roman for a while, want more of Logan's path, should we just continue as is - y'know- whatever yall want that sparks my creativity I guess. 

(Btw, I will post one more chapter within the hour to sort of wrap up the current scenario, this is about what you want to see AFTER Thomas and V resolve their communication issues and whatnot.)


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can guarantee 0 quality because I was really just trying to wrap some stuff up for now.   
Also, wasn't in the mood to write big sad stuff, so if that's what you came for too bad :P

The rest of his shift was pretty easy, in comparison to that conversation. One kid complained that his pancakes weren't in the shape of a cat, and threw one at Virgil. Syrup washes out pretty easy, though.  
The day came and went, and before he knew it, it was 4 o' clock and he was untying his apron - getting ready to clock out and leave. Maybe he walked a little slower on the way to his car that he normally would have- but hey. Would you want to go talk to your brother about your magic not-boyfriend and recent attempt at self-immolation? No, you fucking would not.   
Though it wouldn't really make a difference. He chose this motel not just because it was cheap, but it was fairly close to his place of work. It was only about 4:15 but he wasn't sure if Thomas would be there yet or not. So he just took a deep breath, stepped out of his car, and walked up to his room. No one was outside the door, at least. And Thomas didn't have a card to get in. He doubted Logan would have let him in - they'd only met once, if at all. Thomas might have just seen him from the street or something.  
Logan was there, obviously. Sitting in the only actual chair in their room and doing a word search. Had he tried any crosswords yet? Probably, but Virgil didn't think he'd know a lot of them, just because they tended to be political or television related.  
"Hey Lo, I'm back. You uh- have a good day while I was out? I know there's not much to dinner and I'm sorry but, like, I didn't want you to go outside and get lost or like, hit by a car or something, ykn-"  
"Virgil, you are rambling. My day was pleasant, if quieter than I am used to. There is no need to apologize."  
"Oh. Okay, cool. Cool - well, my brother is actually gonna be here soon, I think you met him earlier? I dunno he said he saw you, but I'm not sure if he meant like, saw you in passing or-"  
"Yes, I met Thomas this morning. Not long after you left, actually. I was looking at some of the newspapers downstairs."

A knock at the door startled Virgil before he could make a response - Logan looked generally unbothered with existence, outside of his word search.  
Well. No time like the present, because time itself is a construct and nothing matters outside of the current moment. (And volcano eruptions. And nationwide cyber attacks. And basically anything bad that could ever happen because this was Virgil's life, and that meant Murphy's Law was all the laws of physics.   
He opened the door.

"Hey Thomas- uh, just come in I guess… uhm. I don't really have anything to say so just- ask me what you wanna know- there's probably like, a lot, right?"  
Thomas smiled, shook his head a little, and walked inside. 

There really was only one chair, so they both just took a seat on Virgil's bed.   
"Alright, I can feel awkward vibes from like a million miles away so I'll start simple - you mentioned going to the hospital for a while. What the heck was that about?"

Right. The one question he'd been hoping to build up to, or at least break it more… gently?  
He looked to Logan. It still seemed like he was reading what was in the newspapers, giving them what privacy he could - but Virgil really had no idea how much he was paying attention.

Breathe in, breathe out. Deep, calm breaths- Thomas is your brother, he loves you, (he's only said it metric fuck ton of times,) and no matter how he feels about what you did… you can, most likely, work past it.

…

right?

No time like the present, no time like the present, notimelikethepresent,  
"I… uh, well I- Thomas, it was- I mean I don't… I don't know why, I was thinking- I thought-"   
Fuck. Is he crying? Maybe. Just- say it! It's right there, the words, gotta say words, say something, anything-

"Hey- V, c'mon. Slow down, bud- just breathe with me, okay?" 

"I tried to kill myself!

I… I- fucking, Thomas - I tried to… Katie was there, though, I thought she would be gone all night, it was so cold- so fucking cold and it hurt but I didn't really try to stop, it- I just, Thomas.. 

I'm.. m sorry, m so r y…"

. . . 

They talked a lot, that afternoon. And night. And into the early morning.  
Thomas made him promise to try and get help- professional help, and he agreed.  
Both of them cried, and Logan offered a little stability for them both. He recognized that he was a stranger to the situation, and provided some white noise, just discussing star charts and maps that he had studied, how he thought they might differ from ones now,   
…. And there may or may not have been a few solid minutes of laughter when Logan said "space is truly infinitesimal, forever expanding-"  
"Uh… don't you mean like, elephantine or something? Infinitesimal means like, super duper tiny."  
"... no it does not."  
Cue a google search and a lengthy discussion of Google, internet, and cellphones.

Maybe they weren't perfect, or even okay- but… whatever. They had each other, and maybe Virgil was a little too happy about how he and Logan ended up holding hands, at some point - and how Thomas as basically human koala-ing him right now. Life was good, great even - just for this moment.

This would be a fairly happy ending to the story, no? 

But this world has many opportunities within it yet, and while this may be an end -

It certainly isn't *the* end.


	13. More notes!! wOW!!

Okay teeny tiny update so yall know: I'll be starting a little mini series, now, of one shots based off this fic - It'll be mostly your guy's requests, or some that I think of a long the way! It's just called the TFANSIS Bonus Chapters :)


End file.
